And now I come to another subject, as to which what I shall say will surprise you very much.  You know, I think, that my aunt Winterfield and I had some conversation about your neighbours, the Askertons; and you will remember that my aunt, whose ideas on such matters were always correct, was a little afraid that your father had not made sufficient inquiry respecting them before he allowed them to settle near him as tenants.  It now turns out that she is very far, indeed, from what she ought to be.  My mother at first thought of writing to you about this; but she is a little fatigued, and at last resolved that under all the circumstances it might be as well that I should tell you.  It seems that Mrs Askerton was married before to a certain Captain Berdmore, and that she left her first husband during his lifetime under the protection of Colonel Askerton.  I believe they, the Colonel and Mrs Askerton, have been since married.  Captain Berdmore died about four years ago in India, and it is probable that such a marriage has taken place.  But under these circumstances, as Lady Aylmer says, you will at once perceive that all acquaintance between you and the lady should be brought to an end.  Indeed, your own sense of what is becoming to you, either as an unmarried girl or as my future wife, or indeed as a woman at all, will at once make you feel that this must be so.  I think, if I were you, I would tell the whole to Mr Amedroz; but this I will leave to your own discretion.  I can assure you that Lady Aylmer has full proof as to the truth of what I tell you.

I go up to London in February.  I suppose I may hardly hope to see you before the recess in July or August; but I trust that before that we shall have fixed the day when you will make me the happiest of men.

Yours, with truest affection,

F. F. Aylmer.’

It was a disagreeable, nasty letter from the first line to the last.  There was not a word in it which did not grate against Clara’s feelings not a thought expressed which did not give rise to fears as to her future happiness.  But the information which it contained about the Askertons ‘the communication,’ as Mrs Askerton herself would have called it made her for the moment almost forget Lady Aylmer and her insolence.  Could this story be true?  And if true, how far would it be imperative on her to take the hint,, or rather obey the order, which had been given her?  What steps should she take to learn the truth?  Then she remembered Mrs Askerton’s promise ’If you want to ask any questions, and will ask them of me, I will answer them.’  The communication, as to which Mrs Askerton had prophesied, had now been made but it had been made not by Will Belton, whom Mrs Askerton had reviled, but by Captain Aylmer, whose praises Mrs Askerton had so loudly sung.  As Clara thought of this, she could not analyse her own feelings, which were not devoid of a certain triumph.  She had known that Belton would not put on his armour to attack a woman.  Captain Aylmer had done so, and she was hardly surprised at his doing it.  Yet Captain Aylmer was the man she loved!  Captain Aylmer was the man she had promised to marry.  But, in truth, she hardly knew which was the man she loved!